The National Rural Health Association hosted their 36th Rural Health Policy Institute in Washington DC, Feb 11-13. SDAHO’s Tammy Hatting, a member of the Rural Health Policy Congress, and many others from South Dakota attended the conference which included a visit to our South Dakota delegation on Capitol Hill.
In South Dakota, 79% of the places where people seek healthcare, including hospitals, health clinics, and skilled nursing facilities are located in a rural area. (reference:Â Stroudwater 2025 infrastructure report). Nationally, nearly 50% of rural hospitals are operating with negative margins and many rural hospitals are losing vital services such as OB, dialysis and basic primary care services.
The South Dakota team shared several concerns with the offices of Thune, Rounds and Johnson including the threat of funding cuts to hospitals, Medicare Advantage challenges and bad actors, loss of OB services in our rural areas, healthcare workforce shortages, uncertainty with federal grant funding, the importance of telehealth services and the importance of access to post-acute care. We will continue to lift up our rural healthcare providers and work collaboratively with our partners to increase access to quality healthcare in all of our communities.
